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Are millennials lazy?
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Millennials take less time off

Nothing demonstrates the millennial work ethic than the fact they take significantly fewer vacation days than previous generations.

Context

Millennials are less likely to take time off than other generations.

The Argument

25% of 18-25-year-olds in the workplace don’t use any of their holiday days.[1] Millennial women are by far and away the hardest workers. Less than half of millennial females in the workplace use all of their holiday days. Just 44% used all of their paid time off in 2016, compared to 51% of millennial men.[2] Although a similar percentage of Baby Boomers and Generation X workers reported leaving holiday unused, Millennials receive less holiday than their older colleagues and therefore end up working more days out of the year. This clearly demonstrates that far from being lazy, millennials work more days each year than any other generation.

Counter arguments

If you actually dig into why they take less time off, it doesn’t reflect a workaholic attitude, it reflects an inability to communicate. 25% of millennials polled feel nervous asking for time off from their employer.[3] In the same poll, only 6% of baby boomers said the same. This is because millennials are not able to broach difficult subjects with their employer in a polite yet effective way. They have been pampered all their lives, winning trophies for coming in last place and being spoken to in such a delicate way so as not to offend, and are now not able to have difficult conversations, such as requesting holiday time at work.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Millennials work more days a year than other generations. [P2] Therefore, millennials are not lazy.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] This isn't a reflection of the millennial work ethic, it is a reflection of their inability to effectively communicate.

References

  1. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/12/19/millennials-aren-lazy-they-workaholics/3ZD86pLBYg954qUEYa3SUJ/story.html
  2. https://mic.com/articles/177836/millennial-women-take-less-vacation-than-men-according-to-this-depressing-new-study#.pZkhLr5bS
  3. http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/travel-trends/millennials-vacation-shaming
This page was last edited on Friday, 8 Feb 2019 at 17:34 UTC

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